As his official slogan proudly states: "Why the hell not?" Tomorrow, Kinky Friedman plans to submit his Declaration of Intent to run as an Independent candidate for governor of the State of Texas. That's right, the cowboy hat-wearing, cigar-chomping country singer and mystery novelist is taking his first steps into the political fray.
But lest Mr. Friedman be dismissed as a flash-in-the pan celebrity cashing in on the success of Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger, his platform actually contains many sensible ideas. Kinky favors low taxes and renewable energy (especially to reduce our dependence on OPEC and Middle Eastern oil), is against big government and corruption, and perhaps best of all wants to campaign against political correctness.
A couple potential downsides, however - apparently he wants to legalize casino gambling to fund education and wishes to appoint both Willie Nelson as head of the Texas Rangers (the law enforcement group, not the baseball team) and his Palestinian hairdresser Farouk Shami as Texas's ambassador to Israel. I'm not sure how serious these particular claims are (they come from quotes on his website and not part of an official platform), but casinos can be a mixed bag, Willie Nelson certainly doesn't seem to be a law enforcement type of guy (if anything, he's the opposite!), and who knows about this Palestinian hairdresser. (Do states even have official ambassadors to other nations?)
But whether the above is real or merely tongue-in-cheek, Kinky Friedman's presence will certainly make the 2006 Texas governor race much more interesting. See his official website at www.kinkyfriedman.com for more details and to follow his campaign.
Also, in other news:
Inclined to believe Howard Dean, John Murtha and the like on Iraq? James Phillips of The Heritage Foundation presents a must-read fact-based document dispelling all of their antiwar myths.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia says that "extremists have hijacked Islam" and vows to fight them. I guess he's going to start by looking in the mirror? The Saudi government has financed fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam, which has inspired tens of thousands of terrorists (at least), around the world for years. Extremists haven't hijacked Islam; Saudi Arabia has. This country is no U.S. ally, and our government must toughen up on them immediately.
For Jewish people in America: Time to get busier in the bedroom. (This is actually a serious and important article.)
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